I use a standard Kindle, about two years old. I'm thinking of buying another as a backup. I want to get around the issue of having to register and get sucked into the Amazon world. IOW, I want to just read the ebooks I get here.

Things I remember from last purchase:

1. I had to avoid buying through Amazon because they would automatically register me. And registration means you're automatically sucked into Amazon. (I went to a brick and mortar electronics store instead.)

2. I had to bypass the registration screens and keep the Kindle in airplane mode.


If I do all the above with the later models of Kindle, will I be able to use the ebooks I get on this site?... and avoid being connected in any way with Amazon? Or are there other "gotchas" that Amazon has built into their newer models?

Thanks.

P.S. I'm considering either another standard Kindle, or possibly a Paperwhite.

[Anonnymouse]

Can't answer about the newer models but I gave a friend of mine my old kindle which I had de-registered from my account. She doesn't have an Amazon account and has never registered it with them. I just dragged and dropped loads of books onto it for her (from all over the place here included) via usb (obviously converted into the correct format) and it works no problem as just a standalone e-reader

If it's a Kindle from 2013 or before convert it to a regular android tablet operating system. Install the software from here: http://n2aos.com/. It's easy and no connection with Amazon.

If it's a Kindle from 2013 or before convert it to a regular android tablet operating system. Install the software from here: http://n2aos.com/. It's easy and no connection with Amazon.

I think this is not for E-Ink versions of Kindle .

If it's a Kindle from 2013 or before convert it to a regular android tablet operating system. Install the software from here: http://n2aos.com/. It's easy and no connection with Amazon.

I think this is not for E-Ink versions of Kindle .

True, but other than the menion of a paperwhite I don't think a specific model was mentioned. If someone wanted to consider one of the Kindle Fire models this is an excellent solution.

I have also seen processes for rooting the Kindle ereaders and getting out of the Amazon ecosystem that way.

True, but other than the menion of a paperwhite I don't think a specific model was mentioned.

I was going to link to the model on Best Buy, since it was a good deal yesterday ($60), but today it is $80!

Amazon - Kindle - 6" - 4GB - Black

It's just the standard version of Kindle, not much different than the first one ever made. Last Christmas, it got down as low as $50 (for the 2GB version) and I should have snapped it up. This Christmas season, I didn't get the $60 4GB version since I was concerned about the registration issue. If it were $30, I would have just gone for it and considered it a minor loss if it required registration.

So, that's the one I'd get if I don't get a Paperwhite. It's basically just a minor upgrade from what I already have.

Any particular reason why it has to be a kindle?

If you are not going to buy through Amazon and want to 'Drag and Drop' from here, (forgive me if I'm wrong but IIRC Kindles don't open Epub so some will need converting). Would you not be better looking at something non-amazon like a KOBO?

No converting for Epubs and not being tied into Amazon or the Kobo store.

Any particular reason why it has to be a kindle?

If you are not going to buy through Amazon and want to 'Drag and Drop' from here, (forgive me if I'm wrong but IIRC Kindles don't open Epub so some will need converting). Would you not be better looking at something non-amazon like a KOBO?

No converting for Epubs and not being tied into Amazon or the Kobo store.

Hi Wenge,

I started with Kindle since it was the cheapest ($70.00 at the time) and it seemed pretty simple. I've found it pretty easy to convert EPUB to MOBI so that hasn't been a problem. At this point, I have thousands of MOBIs and might as well continue with Kindle.

And another thing... I wanted to try out the e-reader before buying and Best Buy didn't have Kobo -- which I had heard of at the time, but didn't have an easy way to try it out. So the decision came down to Nook or Kindle. I had doubts about Nook being supported and had heard that if not registered, it strangely drained the battery. So again, Kindle it was.

The Kobo Aura ereaders are an excellent choice. I own the HD model and will never again return to kindle. Drag 'n drop? No problemo. Plus it reads just about every format around.

The Kobo Aura ereaders are an excellent choice. I own the HD model and will never again return to kindle. Drag 'n drop? No problemo. Plus it reads just about every format around.

I'm starting to think that the mere fact that such a multi-format, drag 'n drop device exists means that there's no rush for me to get an e-reader backup. My thinking had been that the mobile world is getting more and more commercial and proprietary and I better get a back-up Kindle fast. But as long as there's an open device like Kobo, I can put off the decision...and research a bit more. In fact, maybe I'm making too much out of the lack of hands-on access to a Kobo These days, there are so many YouTube videos on technology devices, that they've become a good second-best.

That said, if I see a good price on a Kindle at Best Buy, I'd want to pounce on it...assuming I could continue to do drag & drop.

Anyway, the comments on Kobo are food for thought. Thanks

What`s the problem of having a registered kindle and use books from here with it? I have one and i do that.

[emmilina]

I get books from here, ebook.farm, there, etc. (a lot of them!) and keep them on my kindle...how can Azn know where they're from? I don't think they can keep you from putting e-books you paid for, (just not from them!) on your kindle.

What`s the problem of having a registered kindle and use books from here with it? I have one and i do that.

It's been awhile since I researched this, so I'm fuzzy on the details of what I had heard. But I think the rationale was that any book on a registered Kindle is stored on Amazon's cloud, and Amazon owns that cloud. Ergo, they own your books and can delete/claim/reclaim those books whenever they want for whatever reason. Does that make sense? If not, it may have been some other rationale. All I remember is that a lot of people were going to great lengths to keep their Kindle from getting registered, so they could read books "unmolested".

Whether any of the above is true, given that these days, "outside entities" seem to feel they have a right to intrude into our lives, I just like having a firewall between my books and the outside world.

There was a case a year or two ago where Amazon deleted a book from every ones Device and refunded them. Animal Farm I think it was. Amazon didn't have the rights to sell it or something daft.

There was also a story that Amazon was closing the accounts of people who had large numbers of books that didn't come from Amazon as an anti-piracy measure. How true that is or whether it was just urban legend I don't know.

There was a case a year or two ago where Amazon deleted a book from every ones Device and refunded them. Animal Farm I think it was. Amazon didn't have the rights to sell it or something daft.

There was also a story that Amazon was closing the accounts of people who had large numbers of books that didn't come from Amazon as an anti-piracy measure. How true that is or whether it was just urban legend I don't know.

Yeah, I can't retrieve the info that earlier led to me not wanting to register, but I did do a quick search and one thing is for sure: books that people "buy" on Amazon are actually rented from Amazon. Amazon can take back those books anytime they want. So on the surface, it seems Amazon is punishing Amazon buyers.

As for non-Amazon books, I wish I could find the original info. It was from a Kindle-related forum as I recall. Whether those folks were right or wrong, once we turn on the Wifi and connect with Amazon, Amazon has their tenacles into us, whether or not they choose to do anything annoying/nefarious with that capability or not.

But I do have one undisputed fact to add to the discussion. Unregistered Kindles don't have to deal with ads. As I recall, if I had registered my standard Kindle, I'd have to pay 20 bucks more to get rid of the ads. No way would I do that. So that was my initial reason for not wanting to register. Then people came out of the woodwork and told me that IN ADDITION, not registering would keep my non-Amazon books out of Amazon's hands.

I figure I can't go wrong by not registering. The only downside is that I can't use the in-built Collections capability. I had to download a third-party freeware to do that.